Census 2020: Mass Counts Kickoff Event at the East Boston Library

I photographed this Census 2020 campaign launch that brought together several partner organizations who are working to get a complete count. The focus was on outreach to low-income communities and immigrants — typically hard-to-count demographics. Mainly my job was to collect portraits of people and their signs for social media, but I tried to cover the whole scene. Lots of great faces! (I have added captions where I knew names.) Top photo: Massachusetts Voter Table Director Beth Huang

This event was April 1 and I’m behind on posting, but was inspired that the census forms have begun printing without the citizenship question — which should make the job of a complete count a lot easier.

(There was a Reuters photographer there who was mainly photographing the Census logo for generic use with news articles in the coming year, and today I saw one of his shots on Twitter!)

Boston City Councillor Lydia Edwards

Handwriting a message for her sign

Wayne Yeh of the Chinese Progressive Association and a community member

New England United 4 Justice Executive Director Mimi Ramos

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh

Chelsea Collaborative Director Gladys Vega

MIRA Director of Communications & Strategy Marion Davis

Foundations and advocacy organizations used my photos to get the word out on their websites and social media